LAUSD joins districts across the state in planning for financial literacy education

With a state mandate looming, the Los Angeles Unified School District this week joined other districts in preparing to introduce a semester of personal finance by the Legislature’s 2027-28 deadline.

The LAUSD school board gave the go-ahead on Tuesday while stipulating that elements of financial literacy and economic justice be incorporated into the course.

As of 2023, only 27% of the state’s high school students attended a school that offered a course in personal finance, the California Department of Education reported. But to increase access and make it a high school graduation requirement, the state passed Assembly Bill 2927 in 2024, which proponents argue could boost students’ lifetime earnings by roughly $100,000.

Twenty-nine states already require such a course.

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“If you speak to any adult, they will tell you one of two things,” said Tim Ranzetta, a co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance. “One is, ‘It’s a class I wish I had.’ The second is, ‘Can you educate my kids?’”

Per the resolution, the LAUSD will be required to provide an update that includes a start date of February 2026. The course will address:

• Budgeting 
• Borrowing 
• Interest rates
• Banking 
• Taxes
• Credit
• Retirement planning
• Insurance

LAUSD’s program will also incorporate financial justice — an element that can help students understand American history, literature and government from an economic perspective.

“During a time when the future of a family may seem uncertain, when many students and youth find themselves suddenly the heads of household, it’s all the more important,” said LAUSD student board member Jerry Yang at Tuesday’s meeting.

Yanely Espinal, the director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance, added that including financial justice can help students understand ongoing wage gaps based on profession, gender and other factors.

It’s “getting students to understand the reality that we live in within the financial world,” Espinal said. “It hasn’t always been so picture perfect, and while it is increasingly improving and becoming, there’s a lot of effort to try to make it more fair.”

‘Most sought-after elective courses’

Last year, Fresno Unified School District became one of the earlier California districts to offer a financial literacy elective course in the majority of its high schools.

“We just kind of floated it out there, like, ‘Hey, if we were able to offer this elective course, who’s showing interest in it?’” said Jeff Allen, a teacher on special assignment who has been focused on implementing the course districtwide. “Overnight, it became one of the most sought-after elective courses.”

And in that year alone, the district hired 15 personal finance teachers and taught 998 students.

Further south, at Olympian High School in San Diego’s Sweetwater Union High School District, Allison Saiki has been teaching financial algebra for years — and has recently worked to add financial literacy this semester.

“We have social media where students can go and learn from … financial influencers,” Saiki said. “But I have students that say, ‘Hey, you know what? We see a lot of that outside, but we don’t know what’s real. But we can come to you and we say, ‘Hey, is this true?’… and we decipher it together.”

Saiki, who has been awarded as the school’s teacher of the year and has been recognized districtwide, also transforms the classroom into an active economy, with its own currency, employment, pay, property and tax. Students fill out I-9 forms and learn about 401(k)s.

Teaching the subject has also helped Saiki personally.

“I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m an impulsive spender!’” Saiki said.

“Professional development has given me an opportunity to look at my finances and be like, ‘Wait a minute, let’s fix some things, so that I can do everything that I am telling my students to do.’”

Beyond the requirements 

Even though the mandate only calls for a one-semester high school course, Espinal said educators can start introducing students to basic principles of financial literacy even earlier.

For example, at the elementary school level, she said teachers can mimic scenarios of how they might split their birthday money into different piggy banks.

“You should decide how many of those dollars will go to saving, how many will go to spending, how many will go to charity or donations or gifting to others — and how much will you invest for the future, for bigger goals that are much beyond the next few weeks or months of your life,” Espinal said.

Middle school can be more specific, and high school should be oriented toward students’ lifetime goals, according to Espinal.

She stressed that many of the topics covered are already relevant for high schoolers, who may be navigating car insurance as young drivers, or looking into ways to pay for college. LAUSD school board member Kelly Gonez also stressed the importance of extending financial literacy into adult education during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“That early exposure amounts to very specific decisions that they have to make,” Espinal said. “But you can’t really make those decisions unless you’re informed about everything that weighs into that decision-making process.”